PS5 – Fooyah – Ian Parish

November 10 2025

Amazing Detail

I’ve recently been trying to upskill in Gran Turismo. Or rather, I’ve been trying to remember how to drive cars the way I used to drive cars before flappy paddles came around. When I’m in a car that has a gear stick with H box I’m trying to use the actual gear stick on my rig. I’m also going to try to improve and use the clutch more, along with careful heel-and-toeing while downshifting into corners. Anyway, I was watching a replay within the game of me driving some Honda around Spa and I was really impressed with the level of detail of the car model.

Not only is the level of graphical detail impressive but also the dynamic animation struck me as particularly well done.

A particular animation I like is brake glow when hard braking into corners, it looks really good. All in all I’m still impressed by this game. Even if I am trying to get gold on the licences and slightly frustrated at the number of times I need to keep trying each test. The current test I am working on requires me to spaff the RC92P at speed around part of the Nordschleife and I am currently about 0.4 seconds off gold pace. I will get it eventually.

January 4 2025

It’s A Hard Knock Brick Life

Fortnite – the game [although I’m not sure what else you might think it is] – has now become a platform for loads of games. They have teamed up with Lego and now have a few official Lego based games in the Fortnite family. One of these is Brick Life and the other I enjoy is called Odyssey.

Lego Brick Life is game where you run around a little seaside town doing jobs, making money, and build your dream house and decorate it. IT’s an escape from real life where everything looks lovely. It reminds me of Playstation Home from about ten years ago. Brick World is a good place to spend some time enjoying yourself.

Fortnite Lego Brick Life - Chess Board — Fortnite Lego Brick Life – Chess Board

Just look at the view in this picture, the sea, the stars, the sand, the city.

Fortnite Lego Brick Life - Beach Views — Fortnite Lego Brick Life – Beach Views

Now, the following picture is not from Brick Life but I think it captures the thought and playfulness that has gone into creating the Lego games. Isn’t it pretty:

Fortnite Lego Odyssey - Aurora — Fortnite Lego Odyssey – Aurora

October 3 2024October 3 2024

Un-Mined

I like playing Minecraft. It’s a better world than the one we live in. I know there are creepers and zombies obsessed with trying to kill me but the farming is fun and apart from the strange slavery the game is mostly peaceful. I only play in survival mode, I have entered a creative world, once, but I hated it. The offspring don’t really play in this world much anymore so it’s mostly me just wandering around and doing little projects. I do want to get elytra soon so I will need some help in The End.

There are many cheats that could be applied to the game but having played since Covid-times I have a good idea of which ones keep me playing and which ones make the game far less fun. In the past I have used teleportation and even edited the contents of chests and inventories. I don’t use these cheats anymore. As much as travelling around the map in real time seems frustrating, teleporting from one place to another really kills the fun and sense of acheivement.

I use one main cheat these days and that is software that produces a map along with coordinates on the screen. This does mean I can easily find resources underground such as coal, diamonds and gold. But I think it balances out the time I spend. I don’t have to strip mine, I just mine but in calculated directions.

A Mine Map - Minecraft Level 17 — A Mine Map – Minecraft Level 17

In the above picture you can see the routes I have mined and also some of the resources that remain, ready for me to plunder. Brown is copper ore, silver is iron ore and the grey is coal, I think. I can hover over the map in the application and it informs me the type of block I am over.

The mapping software I use is called Unmined, and it needs you to be able to access the world database. I normally FTP this from my server so I can explore using the map but without live updates.

The above picture shows my item sorter which is placed underground. The red squares are all redstone. I will be making a video about this soon as the last one I uploaded covered my dugout mountain.

This is what the current base looks like from above:

May 9 2024

Portal Gateway

This communication should come after the next one as I have some writing to do about my new toy. I bought a PlayStation Portal and have been using it to play from somewhere that isn’t my lounge. I was quite worried when I tried to connect to a hotspot from my phone because the Portal refused to connect. What would be the point of having a Portal if I can’t connect wherever I get mobile service?

I spent some time googling and there were many pages saying that “nope, it’s an iPhone thing” and also that the wrong type of NAT is supported or something like that. So, I started looking into a wifi device just for the Portal to use when I am not in wifi range.

Then . . . . . today I stumbled onto a Reddit post that listed the manual wifi settings to connect to an iPhone hotspot. I tested it and I am very happy to announce that it worked, so I am now able to connect and play via my iPhone hotspot. I have decided to write the settings here, mainly as a reminder for me in case the Portal resets itself or something. Also, maybe other people will find these settings if they need them.

SSID – whatever your iPhone is called
Password – WPA2, and the password is whatever your iPhone says in the “allow other devices” section.
IP – 172.20.10.10 [the last number you can change from 02 to 15.
Subnet Mask – 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway – 172.20.10.1
DNS – 8.8.8.8

January 23 2024January 23 2024

Platinum Trophy

Well, I’ve finally done it. I’ve got all the Trophies in Gran Turismo 7, or any PlayStation game, and I am happy. For the last couple of months I have been either working through challenges, racing online, or grinding to get money. I had three trophies to get when I thought a Platinum was within reach. I had to complete 50 races online, this was easy, just time and frustration at people trying to knock me off the track, but I completed the 50. I had to take 100 pictures using Scapes mode, this was time again especially as I didn’t just want to keep pressing the shutter button – I wanted most of the pictures to be a decent quality. The final trophy was to buy three absolute classic cars.

Prius in a car park. — A Detailed Version Of My Actual Car In a Car Park – Taken within GT7

A Jaguar valued at 20,000,000 credits
A ford valued at around 5,000,000 credits
A Ferrari valued around 9,500,000 credits

These cars appear occasionally in some in-game dealership and so not only did I need the money to get them I also needed to keep checking the dealership to buy the car when they appeared. I think this has taken around a month. I managed to get the Jag and Ford easy enough but have spent the last two weeks waiting for the Ferrari. I also as orking hard to secure the 9,500,000 credits I needed. Part of me considered using actual real cash to buy some in-game credits but they are about GBP15 for 2,000,000 credits and so I asn’t going to spaff GBP60 or so real money on an in-game car. The grinding continued.

Yesterday morning I checked the game store and the Ferrari was in there. However for whatever reason was decided it now cost 20,000,000. I was a little gutted as I had already saved 9,500,000 for the original price. I decided that I could wait and then it struck me. I have loads of cars I don’t care about and so I sold some of the racing cars I own. This I did and very quickly made the required purchase price.

I now own a Platinum trophy in the cybers and I’m very happy. There’s still plenty of the game I have left to complete. I’ve got to get gold in all the new licences, win every standard race and then maybe compete a little online. Oh, there are also the challenges or mission things to do so I have plenty more things to be getting on with.

PlayStation screen capture of GT7 trophies. — GT7 Trophy List

August 7 2023

Current Fortnite Stats

I’ve been playing Fortnite since about last October. I quite enjoy it, it’s not my favourite game but it is the only one I play where I get to interact with the family and run around killing things. I’ve played Navy Seals in the past and the online experience wasn’t great, especially if you’ve only just started playing online and don’t have all the time to get good at the game. Fortunately the Legend has guided me through Fortnite and I’ve got some kids who play better than me and carry me a lot. Here are the stats from the Fortnite game itself:

I get carried a LOT in squads. I think I’m most proud of the top 5 statistic in the Duos category. Considering a lot of the time the Legend and I are just driving around breaking things and generally having a bit of a giggle to get top 5 that much I think is impressive.

The above table is all of the stats but percentaged for each category. I honestly have no idea if the percentages are good. Also, to be honest, I don’t care. The thing about these games is to have fun. Once you become too competitive I think it becomes less fun and more stressy. This is the main reason why I don’t play Gran Turismo online that much. There’s too much stress. Oh, I’ve just passed 800 hours on Minecraft – yes, I’ll take that applause, thank you.

December 7 2022June 8 2023

Don’t Tell Anyone I’m Enjoying This

You know what? I shouldn’t be ashamed of enjoying this game. I think I’d thought poorly about it in the past but I needed to check my privilege. I shouldn’t be gatekeeping what proper gaming is or looks like. It’s not my place to do that. If you enjoy playing your games then go ahead and enjoy it. I’ve been playing Fortnite and I’m enjoying it. I’m also reasonably ok at it. I know my weak points and I’m going to work on those over the next few weeks to try and get a little better.

Fortnite - Rather Good Fun Really — Fortnite – Rather Good Fun Really

So, a week ago or so Epic were offering the chance to gain extra XP by playing some challenges within a website. I’m not sure what their motivation was but I enjoyed it. I had to get 25 eliminations in a day to get the XP. Somehow I got 44!

Fortnite - One Day's Play — Fortnite – One Day’s Play

The next part of this is to get some colleagues from work and create a super-team for smashing all the competitions. This might take some time but would be so worth it.

April 27 2022April 26 2022

Stavelot – Belgium

I spent some time racing around the gorgeous circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. I was slightly bothered about the challenge being made in a Porsche but it turns out this particular car was very well behaved. This will be a 4k video [when processed] which I recorded and uploaded. My god, it looks amazing.

While I was watching the replay I noticed the amazing graphics of the brakes getting hot and decided to take a photograph. This was taken at the end of the long straight after Eau Rouge.

When I played this session it was far more satisfying than some recent gameplay. I’ve been attempting some races that I’ve actually struggled in! I also really love the dynamic weather but it’s a bit irritating to not know at the start of a thirty minute race what weather might be affecting you about fifteen minutes in! I will persist and get better.

April 15 2022April 15 2022

You’ll Get Bored Soon

I’ve been playing a lot of Gran Turismo 7 because it’s fun and looks nice. There’s a photo mode which I mess around with now and then but it’s not really why I play the game. You can take a car and place it somewhere in the world where GT7 people have got high res images of certain locations. Then you can pretty much adjust every aspect of the car, position, lighting and camera details until you get the photograph you want. I then screen shot the best ones and we are at a stage in device connectivity that these media files now appear on my phone in the PS app. I quite like how it all links up. This makes it quite a bit easier for me to save the pictures rather than using a USB memory stick or sharing to Twitter and then downloading that file.

This image was set up and taken quickly for a bronze trophy within the game. You have to photograph a BMW Gr3 car at the Nürburgring. Fortunately I had won a BMW Gr3 car for completing some challenge or other so I already had that vehicle. The other photograph trophy is an Audi R18 at Le Mans and I’ve got to save up to buy that particular car as it’s three million credits in game and I only have about 1.2 million at the moment. The time will come though. In a short while I’m going to work on the Dirt Track trophy so look out for that tweet.

This is my car at the Nürburgring, I own a grey Prius like the one on the photograph except mine doesn’t have a body kit fitted to it, or a wing. While you can’t see the details in this photograph I have modified the car body as far as I can and reduced the weight of the vehicle by taking out everything that’s not needed. The engine has been tuned to a high degree and the suspension and brakes have been uprated. I’ve install some super sticky racing tyres and added a few racing details for fun. I think I’ll take a few more photographs of this car with a standard Prius next to it so the details stand out a little more.

I still don’t have the real Bora Horza Gobuchul because, oddly enough, the parts that are needed to replace the stolen parts are in high demand because too many of the catalytic converters are being stolen. I probably could get a decent one from eBay, and it might even be the one from my car, but it’s with the garage people right now and I’ll leave it there. Meanwhile I have an FR branded Ibiza which you might think was a little hot hatch but it most definitely not. I’ve counted the cylinders and I got to THREE before I ran out of cylinders to count.

April 14 2022April 14 2022

It’s Beautiful And Hard Work

I’m clearly still playing Gran Turismo 7. I have the PS5 version and I have to say it looks absolutely amazing. The lighting is fantastic. I’m enjoying the game but it is quite challenging and I’ve struggled at a couple of the licence tests and also some of the circuit experiences.

Goodness, did I just take 122 miles of Laguna Seca to get a gold? Yes I did. #GranTurismo7
— Ian Parish (@iparish) April 2, 2022

I took quite a while to complete the Brands Hatch circuit experience mostly because it was in a Radical and they are a touch twitchy as you head around the track. I got there but it took about an hour. I’m currently on about two hours of work on the final licence test. I’ve passed at the silver level but I really want a gold. That would mean I have every licence at gold level and I would consider that an excellent achievement. The test is around a drying Spa circuit in a 1970 Porsche beast that doesn’t like a single wet patch. You have to really stick to the dry line around the circuit and so you don’t have any room for error. I’ve found it so frustrating I’ve even watched a few people on YouTube to get some tips.

This is not a helpful comment - GT7 — This is not a helpful comment – GT7

Sometimes when you come off the track again at any of the bloody corners – I’ve crashed at every corner multiple times – you get this chap popping up onto your screen telling you to watch the demonstration. At first this seems like good advice but after two hours of trying and seeing this comment multiple times you end up telling that person to “fuck off” whenever they show up. I almost want to scream “leave me alone”. It’s emotionally challenging and I’m not sure how I will feel when I finally shave the last three seconds off my time and get gold.

Air Display while at Spa - GT7 — Air Display while at Spa – GT7

At least the whole game looks amazing. The above clip is from a race at Spa and these aircraft I could only hear while the race started. I couldn’t see them from the car. I had to go to the replay to see them. Such attention to detail is pretty good. I also think the lighting in the “winner” screen is gorgeous and it makes me feel good:

Winning screen - GT7 — Winning screen – GT7

Right. I have to get on the PS5 to have another day of swearing at the Spa circuit and hating my car.